J E R E M I A H.

CHAP. XV.

When we left the prophet, in the close of the
foregoing chapter, so pathetically poring out his prayers before
God, we had reason to hope that in this chapter we should find God
reconciled to the land and the prophet brought into a quiet
composed frame; but, to our great surprise, we find it much
otherwise as to both. I. Notwithstanding the prophet's prayers, God
here ratifies the sentence given against the people, and abandons
them to ruin turning a deaf ear to all the intercessions made for
them, ver. 1-9. II. The
prophet himself, notwithstanding the satisfaction he had in
communion with God, still finds himself uneasy and out of temper.
1. He complains to God of his continual struggle with his
persecutors, ver. 10. 2.
God assures him that he shall be taken under special protection,
though there was a general desolation coming upon the land,
ver. 11-14. 3. He
appeals to God concerning his sincerity in the discharge of his
prophetic office and thinks it hard that he should not have more of
the comfort of it, ver.
15-18. 4. Fresh security is given him that, upon
condition he continue faithful, God will continue his care of him
and his favour to him, ver.
19-21. And thus, at length, we hope he regained the
possession of his own soul.

Sentence against Judah Confirmed;
Destruction of Judah. (b. c. 606.)

1 Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood
before me, yet my mind could not be toward
this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go
forth. 2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee,
Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith
the Lord; Such as are for
death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the
sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and
such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. 3
And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear,
and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour
and destroy. 4 And I will cause them to be removed into all
kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king
of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem. 5 For
who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan
thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest? 6 Thou
hast forsaken me, saith the Lord,
thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand
against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting. 7
And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will
bereave them of children, I will destroy my people,
since they return not from their ways. 8 Their widows
are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon
them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I
have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon
the city. 9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath
given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet
day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them
will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the Lord.

We scarcely find any where more pathetic
expressions of divine wrath against a provoking people than we have
here in these verses. The prophet had prayed earnestly for them,
and found some among them to join with him; and yet not so much as
a reprieve was gained, nor the least mitigation of the judgment;
but this answer is given to the prophet's prayers, that the decree
had gone forth, was irreversible, and would shortly be executed.
Observe here,

I. What the sin was upon which this severe
sentence was grounded. 1. It is in remembrance of a former
iniquity; it is because of Manasseh, for that which he did in
Jerusalem, v. 4.
What that was we are told, and that it was for it that Jerusalem
was destroyed, 2 Kings xxiv. 3,
4. It was for his idolatry, and the innocent blood
which he shed, which the Lord would not pardon. He is called
the son of Hezekiah because his relation to so good a father
was a great aggravation of his sin, so far was it from being an
excuse of it. The greatest part of a generation was worn off since
Manasseh's time, yet his sin is brought into the account; as in
Jerusalem's last ruin God brought upon it all the righteous
blood shed on the earth, to show how heavy the guilt of blood
will light and lie somewhere, sooner or later, and that reprieves
are not pardons. 2. It is in consideration of their present
impenitence. See how their sin is described (v. 6): "Thou hast forsaken me,
my service and thy duty to me; thou hast gone backward into
the ways of contradiction, art become the reverse of what thou
shouldst have been and of what God by his law would have led thee
forward to." See how the impenitence is described (v. 7): They return not from
their ways, the ways of their own hearts, into the ways of
God's commandments again. There is mercy for those who have turned
aside if they will return; but what favour can those expect that
persist in their apostasy?

II. What the sentence is. It is such as
denotes no less than an utter ruin.

1. God himself abandons and abhors them:
My mind cannot be towards them. How can it be thought that
the holy God should have any remaining complacency in those that
have such a rooted antipathy to him? It is not in a passion, but
with a just and holy indignation, that he says, "Cast them out
of my sight, as that which is in the highest degree odious and
offensive, and let them go forth, for I will be troubled
with them no more."

2. He will not admit any intercession to be
made for them (v.
1): "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, by
prayer or sacrifice to reconcile me to them, yet I could not be
prevailed with to admit them into favour." Moses and Samuel were
two as great favourites of Heaven as ever were the blessings of
this earth, and were particularly famed for the success of their
mediation between God and his offending people; many a time they
would have been destroyed if Moses had not stood before him in the
breach; and to Samuel's prayers they owed their lives (1 Sam. xii. 19); yet even their
intercessions should not prevail, no, not though they were now in a
state of perfection, much less Jeremiah's who was now a man
subject to like passions as others. The putting of this as a
case, Though they should stand before me, supposes that they
do not, and is an intimation that saints in heaven are not
intercessors for saints on earth. It is the prerogative of the
Eternal Word to be the only Mediator in the other world,
whatever Moses, and Samuel, and others were in this.

3. He condemns them all to one destroying
judgment or other. When God casts them out of his presence,
whither shall they go forth? v. 2. Certainly nowhere to be safe or
easy, but to be met by one judgment while they are pursued by
another, till they find themselves surrounded with mischiefs on all
hands, so that they cannot escape; Such as are for death to
death. By death here is meant the pestilence (Rev. vi. 8), for it is death without
visible means. Such as are for death to death, or for the
sword to the sword; every man shall perish in that way that God
has appointed: the law that appoints the malefactor's death
determines what death he shall die. Or, He that is by his own
choice for this judgment, let him take it, or for that, let him
take it, but by the one or the other they shall all fall and none
shall escape. It is a choice like that which David was put to, and
was thereby put into a great strait, 2 Sam. xxiv. 14. Captivity is
mentioned last, some think, because the sorest judgment of all, it
being both a complication and continuance of miseries. That of
the sword is again repeated (v. 3), and is made the first of
another four frightful set of destroyers, which God will appoint
over them, as officers over the soldiers, to do what they
please with them. As those that escape the sword shall be
cut off by pestilence, famine, or captivity, so those that fall by
the sword shall be cut off by divine vengeance, which pursues
sinners on the other side death; there shall be dogs to tear
in the field to devour. And, if there be any that think to outrun
justice, they shall be made the most public monuments of it:
They shall be removed into all kingdoms of the earth
(v. 4), like Cain,
who, that he might be made a spectacle of horror to all, became
a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth.

4. They shall fall without being relieved.
Who can do any thing to help them? for (1.) God, even their own God
(so he had been) appears against them: I will stretch out my
hand against thee, which denotes a deliberate determined
stroke, which will reach far and wound deeply. I am weary with
repenting (v.
6); it is a strange expression; they had behaved so
provokingly, especially by their treacherous professions of
repentance, that they had put even infinite patience itself to the
stretch. God had often turned away his wrath when it was ready to
break forth against them; but now he will grant no more reprieves.
Miserable is the case of those who have sinned so long against
God's mercy that at length they have sinned it away. (2.) Their own
country expels them, and is ready to spue them out, as it
had done the Canaanites that were before them; for so it was
threatened (Lev. xviii.
28): I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the
land, in their own gates, through which they shall be
scattered, or into the gates of the earth, into the cities
of all the nations about them, v. 7. (3.) Their own children, that
should assist them when they speak with the enemy in the gate,
shall be cut off from them: I will bereave them of children,
so that they shall have little hopes that the next generation will
retrieve their affairs, for I will destroy my people; and,
when the inhabitants are slain, the land will soon be desolate.
This melancholy article is enlarged upon, v. 8, 9, where we have, [1.] The
destroyer brought upon them. When God has bloody work to do he will
find out bloody instruments to do it with. Nebuchadnezzar is here
called a spoiler at noon-day, not a thief in the night, that
is afraid of being discovered, but one that without fear shall
break through and destroy all the fences of rights and properties,
and this in the face of the sun and in defiance of its light: I
have brought against the mother a young man, a spoiler (so some
read it); for Nebuchadnezzar, when he first invaded Judah, was but
a young man, in the first year of his reign. We read it,
I have brought upon them, even against the mother of the
young men, a spoiler, that is, against Jerusalem, a mother
city, that had a very numerous family of young men: or that
invasion was in a particular manner terrible to those mothers who
had many sons fit for war, who must now hazard their lives in the
high places of the field, and, being an unequal match for the
enemy, would be likely to fall there, to the inexpressible grief of
their poor mothers, who had nursed them up with a great deal of
tenderness. The same God that brought the spoiler upon them
caused him to fall upon it, that is, upon the spoil
delivered to him, suddenly and by surprise; and then
terrors came upon the city. the original is very
abrupt—the city and terrors. O the city! what a
consternation will it then be in! O the terrors that shall
then seize it! Then the city and terrors shall be brought together,
that seemed at a distance from each other. I will cause to fall
suddenly upon her (upon Jerusalem) a watcher and
terrors; so Mr. Gataker reads it, for the word is used for a
watcher (Dan. iv. 13,
23), and the Chaldean soldiers were called watchers,
ch. iv. 16. [2.] The
destruction made by this destroyer. A dreadful slaughter is here
described. First, The wives are deprived of their husbands:
Their widows are increased above the sand of the seas, so
numerous have they now grown. It was promised that the men of
Israel (for those only were numbered) should be as the sand of
the sea for multitude; but now they shall be all cut
off, and their widows shall be so. But observe, God says, They
are increased to me. Though the husbands were cut off by the
sword of his justice, their poor widows were gathered in the arms
of his mercy, who has taken it among the titles of his honour to be
the God of the widows. Widows are said to be taken into
the number, the number of those whom God has a particular
compassion and concern for. Secondly, The parents are
deprived of their children: She that has borne seven sons,
whom she expected to be the support and joy of her age, now
languishes, when she has seen them all cut off by the sword
in one day, who had been many years her burden and care. She
that had many children has waxed feeble, 1 Sam. ii. 5. See what uncertain comforts
children are; and let us therefore rejoice in them as though we
rejoiced not. When the children are slain the mother gives
up the ghost, for her life was bound up in theirs: Her sun
has gone down while it was yet day; she is bereaved of all her
comforts just when she thought herself in the midst of the
enjoyment of them. She is now ashamed and confounded to
think how proud she was of her sons, how fond of them, and how much
she promised herself from them. Some understand, by this
languishing mother, Jerusalem lamenting the death of her
inhabitants as passionately as ever poor mother bewailed her
children. Many are cut off already, and the residue of them,
who have yet escaped, and, as was hoped, were reserved to be the
seed of another generation, even these will I deliver to the
sword before their enemies (as the condemned malefactor is
delivered to the sheriff to be executed), saith the Lord,
the Judge of heaven and earth, who, we are sure, herein judges
according to truth, though the judgment seem severe.

5. They shall fall without being pitied
(v. 5): "For who
shall have pity on thee, O Jerusalem? When thy God has cast
thee out of his sight, and his compassions fail and are shut up
from thee, neither thy enemies nor thy friends shall have any
compassion for thee. They shall have no sympathy with thee; they
shall not bemoan thee nor be sorry for thee; they shall have
no concern for thee, shall not go a step out of their way to ask
how thou dost." For, (1.) Their friends, who were expected to
do these friendly offices, were all involved with them in the
calamities, and had enough to do to bemoan themselves. (2.) It was
plain to all their neighbours that they had brought all this misery
upon themselves by their obstinacy in sin, and that they might
easily have prevented it by repentance and reformation, which they
were often in vain called to; and therefore who can pity them? O
Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself. Those will perish for ever
unpitied that might have been saved upon such easy terms and would
not. (3.) God will thus complete their misery. He will set their
acquaintance, as he did Job's at a distance from them; and his
hand, his righteous hand, is to be acknowledged in all the
unkindnesses of our friends, as well as in all the injuries done us
by our foes.

The Prophet's Complaint; The Prophet Assured
of His Safety. (b. c. 606.)

10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me
a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have
neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet
every one of them doth curse me. 11 The Lord said, Verily it shall be well with thy
remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well
in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 12 Shall
iron break the northern iron and the steel? 13 Thy substance
and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and
that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. 14
And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land
which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger,
which shall burn upon you.

Jeremiah has now returned from his public
work and retired into his closet; what passed between him and his
God there we have an account of in these and the following verses,
which he published afterwards, to affect the people with the weight
and importance of his messages to them. Here is,

I. The complaint which the prophet makes to
God of the many discouragements he met with in his work, v. 10.

1. He met with a great deal of
contradiction and opposition. He was a man of strife and
contention to the whole land (so it might be read, rather than
to the whole earth, for his business lay only in that land);
both city and country quarrelled with him, and set themselves
against him, and said and did all they could to thwart him. He was
a peaceable man, gave no provocation to any, nor was apt to resent
the provocations given him, and yet a man of strife, not a
man striving, but a man striven with; he was for peace, but, when
he spoke, they were for war. And, whatever they pretended, that
which was the real cause of their quarrels with him was his
faithfulness to God and to their souls. He showed them their sins
that were working their ruin, and put them into a way to prevent
that ruin, which was the greatest kindness he could do them; and
yet this was it for which they were incensed against him and looked
upon him as their enemy. Even the prince of peace himself was thus
a man of strife, a sign spoken against, continually enduring the
contradiction of sinners against himself. And the gospel of
peace brings division, even to fire and sword, Matt. x. 34, 35; Luke xii. 49,
51. Now this made Jeremiah very uneasy, even to a degree
of impatience. He cried out, Woe is me, my mother, that thou
hast borne me, as if it were his mother's fault that she bore
him, and he had better never have been born than be born to such an
uncomfortable life; nay, he is angry that she had borne him a
man of strife, as if he had been fatally determined to this by
the stars that were in the ascendant at his birth. If he had any
meaning of this kind, doubtless it was very much his infirmity; we
rather hope it was intended for no more than a pathetic lamentation
of his own case. Note, (1.) Even those who are most quiet and
peaceable, if they serve God faithfully, are often made men of
strife. We can but follow peace; we have the making only of
one side of the bargain, and therefore can but, as much as in us
lies, live peaceably. (2.) It is very uncomfortable to those
who are of a peaceable disposition to live among those who are
continually picking quarrels with them. (3.) Yet, if we cannot live
so peaceably as we desire with our neighbours, we must not be so
disturbed at it as thereby to lose the repose of our own minds and
put ourselves upon the fret.

2. He met with a great deal of contempt,
contumely, and reproach. They every one of them cursed him; they
branded him as a turbulent factious man, as an incendiary and a
sower of discord and sedition. They ought to have blessed him, and
to have blessed God for him; but they had arrived at such a pitch
of enmity against God and his word that for his sake they cursed
his messenger, spoke ill of him, wished ill to him, did all they
could to make him odious. They all did so; he had scarcely one
friend in Judah or Jerusalem that would give him a good word. Note,
It is often the lot of the best of men to have the worst of
characters ascribed to them. So persecuted they the
prophets. But one would be apt to suspect that surely Jeremiah
had given them some provocation, else he could not have lost
himself thus: no, not the least: I have neither lent money
nor borrowed money, have been neither creditor nor debtor;
for so general is the signification of the words here. (1.) It is
implied here that those who deal much in the business of this world
are often involved thereby in strife and contention; meum et
tuum—mine and thine are the great make-bates; lenders and
borrowers sue and are sued, and great dealers often get a great
deal of ill-will. (2.) it was an instance of Jeremiah's great
prudence, and it is written for our learning, that, being called to
be a prophet, he entangled not himself in the affairs of this
life, but kept clear from them, that he might apply the more
closely to the business of his profession and might not give the
least shadow of suspicion that he aimed at secular advantages in it
nor any occasion to his neighbours to contend with him. He put
out no money, for he was no usurer, nor indeed had he any money
to lend: he took up no money, for he was no purchaser, no
merchant, no spendthrift. He was perfectly dead to this world and
the things of it: a very little served to keep him, and we find
(ch. xvi. 2) that he
had neither wife nor children to keep. And yet, (3.) Though he
behaved thus discreetly, and so as one would think should have
gained him universal esteem, yet he lay under a general odium,
through the iniquity of the times. Blessed be God, bad as things
are with us, they are not so bad but that there are those with whom
virtue has its praise; yet let not those who behave most prudently
think it strange if they have not the respect and esteem they
deserve. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

II. The answer which God gave to this
complaint. Though there was in it a mixture of passion and
infirmity, yet God graciously took cognizance of it, because it was
for his sake that the prophet suffered reproach. In this
answer, 1. God assures him that he should weather the storm and be
made easy at last, v.
11. Though his neighbours quarrelled with him for what
he did in the discharge of his office, yet God accepted him and
promised to stand by him. It is in the original expressed in the
form of an oath: "If I take not care of thee, let me never
be counted faithful; verily it shall go well with thy
remnant, with the remainder of thy life" (for so the word
signifies); "the residue of thy days shall be more comfortable to
thee than those hitherto have been." Thy end shall be good;
so the Chaldee reads it. Note, It is a great and sufficient support
to the people of God that, how troublesome soever their way may be,
it shall be well with them in their latter end, Ps. xxxvii. 37. They have still a
remnant, a residue, something behind and left in
reserve, which will be sufficient to counterbalance all their
grievances, and the hope of it may serve to make them easy. It
should seem that Jeremiah, besides the vexation that his people
gave him, was uneasy at the apprehension he had of sharing largely
in the public judgments which he foresaw coming; and, though he
mentioned not this, God replied to his thought of it, as to Moses,
Exod. iv. 19. Jeremiah
thought, "If my friends are thus abusive to me, what will my
enemies be?" And God had thought fit to awaken in him an
expectation of this kind, ch.
xii. 5. But here he quiets his mind with this promise:
"Verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time
of evil, when all about thee shall be laid waste." Note, God
has all men's hearts in his hand, and can turn those to favour his
servants whom they were most afraid of. And the prophets of the
Lord have often met with fairer and better treatment among open
enemies than among those that call themselves his people. When we
see trouble coming, and it looks very threatening, let us not
despair, but hope in God, because it may prove better than we
expect. This promise was accomplished when Nebuchadnezzar, having
taken the city, charged the captain of the guard to be kind to
Jeremiah, and let him have every thing he had a mind to, ch. xxxix. 11, 12. The
following words, Shall iron break the northern iron, and the
steel, or brass? (v. 12), being compared with the
promise of God made to Jeremiah (ch. i. 18), that he would make him an
iron pillar and brazen walls, seem intended for his
comfort. They were continually clashing with him, and were rough
and hard as iron; but Jeremiah, being armed with power and courage
from on high, is as northern iron, which is naturally stronger, and
as steel, which is hardened by art; and therefore they shall not
prevail against him; compare this with Ezek. ii. 6; iii. 8, 9. He might the
better bear their quarrelling with him when he was sure of the
victory. 2. God assures him that his enemies and persecutors should
be lost in the storm, should be ruined at last, and that therein
the word of God in his mouth should be accomplished and he proved a
true prophet, v. 13,
14. God here turns his speech from the prophet to the
people. To them also v.
12 may be applied: Shall iron break the northern
iron, and the steel? Shall their courage and strength, and the
most hardly and vigorous of their efforts, be able to contest
either with the counsel of God or with the army of the Chaldeans,
which are as inflexible, as invincible, as the northern iron and
steel. Let them therefore hear their doom: Thy substance and thy
treasure will I give to the spoil, and that without
price; the spoilers shall have it gratis; it shall be to
them a cheap and easy prey. Observe, The prophet was poor; he
neither lent nor borrowed; he had nothing to lose, neither
substance nor treasure, and therefore the enemy will
treat him well, Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator—The
traveller that has no property about him will congratulate himself
when accosted by a robber. But the people that had great
estates in money and land would be slain for what they had, or the
enemy, finding they had much, would use them hardly, to make them
confess more. And it is their own iniquity that herein corrects
them: It is for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. All
parts of the country, even those which lay most remote, had
contributed to the national guilt, and all shall now be brought to
account. Let not one tribe lay the blame upon another, but each
take shame to itself: It is for all thy sins in all thy
borders. Thus shall they stay at home till they see their
estates ruined, and then they shall be carried into captivity, to
spend the sad remains of a miserable life in slavery: "I will
make thee to pass with thy enemies, who shall lead thee in
triumph into a land that thou knowest not, and therefore
canst expect to find no comfort in it." All this is the fruit of
God's wrath: "It is a fire kindled in my anger, which shall burn
upon you, and, if not extinguished in time, will burn
eternally."

15 O Lord, thou
knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my
persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for
thy sake I have suffered rebuke. 16 Thy words were found,
and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing
of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. 17 I sat not in the
assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy
hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation. 18 Why is my
pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be
healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as
waters that fail? 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord, If thou return, then will I bring
thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take
forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let
them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. 20 And
I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they
shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee:
for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith
the Lord. 21 And I will
deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee
out of the hand of the terrible.

Here, as before, we have,

I. The prophet's humble address to God,
containing a representation both of his integrity and of the
hardships he underwent notwithstanding. It is a matter of comfort
to us that, whatever ails us, we have a God to go to, before whom
we may spread our case and to whose omniscience we may appeal, as
the prophet here, "O Lord! thou knowest; thou knowest my
sincerity, which men are resolved they will not acknowledge; thou
knowest my distress, which men disdain to take notice of." Observe
here,

1. What it is that the prophet prays for,
v. 15. (1.) That
God would consider his case and be mindful of him: "O Lord!
remember me; think upon me for good." (2.) That God would
communicate strength and comfort to him: "Visit me; not only
remember me, but let me know that thou rememberest me, that thou
art nigh unto me." (3.) That he would appear for him against those
that did him wrong: Revenge me of my persecutors, or rather,
Vindicate me from my persecutors; give judgment against
them, and let that judgment be executed so far as is necessary for
my vindication and to compel them to acknowledge that they have
done me wrong. Further than this a good man will not desire that
God should avenge him. Let something be done to convince the world
that (whatever blasphemers say to the contrary) Jeremiah is a
righteous man and the God whom he serves is a righteous God. (4.)
That he would yet spare him and continue him in the land of the
living: "Take me not away by a sudden stroke, but in thy
long-suffering lengthen out my days." The best men will own
themselves so obnoxious to God's wrath that they are indebted to
his patience for the continuance of their lives. Or, "While thou
exercisest long-suffering towards my persecutors, let not them
prevail to take me away." Though in a passion he complained of his
birth (v. 10), yet
he desires here that his death might not be hastened; for life is
sweet to nature, and the life of a useful man is so to grace. I
pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world.

2. What it is that he pleads with God for
mercy and relief against his enemies, persecutors, and
slanderers.

(1.) That God's honour was interested in
this case: Know, and make it known, that for thy sake I
have suffered rebuke. Those that lay themselves open to
reproach by their own fault and folly have great reason to bear it
patiently, but no reason to expect that God should appear for them.
But if it is for doing well that we suffer ill, and for
righteousness' sake that we have all manner of evil said against
us, we may hope that God will vindicate our honour with his own. To
the same purport (v.
16), I am called by thy name, O Lord of hosts! It
was for that reason that his enemies hated him, and therefore for
that reason he promised himself that God would own him and stand by
him.

(2.) That the word of God, which he was
employed to preach to others, he had experienced the power and
pleasure of in his own soul, and therefore had the graces of the
Spirit to qualify him for the divine favour, as well as his gifts.
We find some rejected of God who yet could say, Lord, we have
prophesied in thy name. But Jeremiah could say more (v. 16): "Thy words were
found, found by me" (he searched the scripture,
diligently studied the law, and found that in it which was reviving
to him: if we seek we shall find), "found for me" (the words
which he was to deliver to others were laid ready to his hand, were
brought to him by inspiration), "and I did not only taste
them, but eat them, received them entirely, conversed with
them intimately; they were welcome to me, as food to one that is
hungry; I entertained them, digested them, turned them in succum
et sanguinem—into blood and spirits, and was myself delivered
into the mould of those truths which I was to deliver to others."
The prophet was told to eat the roll, Ezek. ii. 8; Rev. x. 9. I did eat
it—that is, as it follows, it was to me the joy and
rejoicing of my heart, nothing could be more agreeable.
Understand it, [1.] Of the message itself which he was to deliver.
Though he was to foretel the ruin of his country, which was dear to
him, and in the ruin of which he could not but have a deep share,
yet all natural affections were swallowed up in zeal for God's
glory, and even these messages of wrath, being divine messages,
were a satisfaction to him. He also rejoiced, at first, in hope
that the people would take warning and prevent the judgment. Or,
[2.] Of the commission he received to deliver this message. Though
the work he was called to was not attended with any secular
advantages, but, on the contrary, exposed him to contempt and
persecution, yet, because it put him in a way to serve God and do
good, he took pleasure in it, was glad to be so employed, and it
was his meat and drink to do the will of him that sent him,John iv. 34. Or, [3.] Of
the promise God gave him that he would assist and own him in his
work (ch. i. 8); he
was satisfied in that, and depended upon it, and therefore hoped it
should not fail him.

(3.) That he had applied himself to the
duty of his office with all possible gravity, seriousness, and
self-denial, though he had had of late but little satisfaction in
it, v. 17. [1.] It
was his comfort that he had given up himself wholly to the business
of his office and had done nothing either to divert himself from it
or disfit himself for it. He kept no unsuitable company, denied
himself the use even of lawful recreations, abstained from every
thing that looked like levity, lest thereby he should make himself
mean and less regarded. He sat alone, spent a great deal of
time in his closet, because of the hand of the Lord that was
strong upon him to carry him on his work, Ezek. iii. 14. "For thou hast filled me
with indignation, with such messages of wrath against this
people as have made me always pensive." Note, It will be a comfort
to God's ministers, when men despise them, if they have the
testimony of their consciences for them that they have not by any
vain foolish behaviour made themselves despicable, that they have
been dead not only to the wealth of the world, as this prophet was
(v. 10), but to the
pleasures of it too, as here. But, [2.] It is his complaint that he
had had but little pleasure in his work. It was at first the
rejoicing of his heart, but of late it had made him melancholy, so
that he had no heart to sit in the meeting of those that make
merry. He cared not for company, for indeed no company cared
for him. He sat alone, fretting at the people's obstinacy
and the little success of his labours among them. This filled him
with a holy indignation. Note, It is the folly and infirmity
of some good people that they lose much of the pleasantness of
their religion by the fretfulness and uneasiness of their natural
temper, which they humour and indulge, instead of mortifying
it.

(4.) He throws himself upon God's pity and
promise in a very passionate expostulation (v. 18): "Why is my pain
perpetual, and nothing done to ease it? Why are the wounds
which my enemies are continually giving both to my peace and to my
reputation incurable, and nothing done to retrieve either my
comfort or my credit? I once little thought that I should be thus
neglected; will the God that has promised me his presence be to
me as a liar, the God on whom I depend to be me as waters
that fail?" We are willing to make the best we can of it, and
to take it as an appeal, [1.] To the mercy of God: "I know he will
not let the pain of his servant be perpetual, but he will ease it,
will not let his wound be incurable, but he will heal it; and
therefore I will not despair." [2.] To his faithfulness: "Wilt
thou be to me as a liar? No; I know thou wilt not. God is not a
man that he should lie. The fountain of life will never be to his
people as waters that fail."

II. God's gracious answer to this address,
v. 19-21. Though
the prophet betrayed much human frailty in his address, yet God
vouchsafed to answer him with good words and comfortable words; for
he knows our frame. Observe,

1. What God here requires of him as the
condition of the further favours he designed him. Jeremiah had done
and suffered much for God, yet God is no debtor to him, but he is
still upon his good behaviour. God will own him. But, (1.) He must
recover his temper, and be reconciled to his work, and friends with
it again, and not quarrel with it any more as he had done. He must
return, must shake off these distrustful discontented
thoughts and passions, and not give way to them, must regain the
peaceable possession and enjoyment of himself, and resolve to be
easy. Note, When we have stepped aside into any disagreeable frame
or way our care must be to return and compose ourselves into a
right temper of mind again; and then we may expect God will
help us, if thus we endeavour to help ourselves. (2.) He must
resolve to be faithful in his work, for he could not expect the
divine protection any longer than he did approve himself so. Though
there was no cause at all to charge Jeremiah with unfaithfulness,
and God knew his heart to be sincere, yet God saw fit to give him
this caution. Those that do their duty must not take it ill to be
told their duty. In two things he must be faithful:—[1.] He must
distinguish between some and others of those he preached to: Thou
must take forth the precious from the vile. The righteous
are the precious be they ever so mean and poor; the wicked are the
vile be they ever so rich and great. In our congregations these are
mixed, wheat and chaff in the same floor; we cannot distinguish
them by name, but we must by character, and must give to each a
portion, speaking comfort to precious saints and terror to vile
sinners, neither making the heart of the righteous sad nor
strengthening the hands of the wicked (Ezek. xiii. 22), but rightly dividing the
word of truth. Ministers must take those whom they see to be
precious into their bosoms, and not sit alone as Jeremiah
did, but keep up conversation with those they may do good to and
get good by. [2.] He must closely adhere to his instructions, and
not in the least vary from them: Let them return to thee, but
return not thou to them, that is, he must do the utmost he can,
in his preaching, to bring people up to the mind of God; he must
tell them they must, at their peril, comply with that. Those that
had flown off from him, that did not like the terms upon which
God's favour was offered to them, "Let them return to thee,
and, upon second thoughts, come up to the terms and strike the
bargain; but do not thou return to them, do not compliment
them, nor comply with them, nor think to make the matter easier to
them than the word of God has made it." Men's hearts and lives must
come up to God's law and comply with that, for God's law will never
come down to them nor comply with them.

2. What God here promises to him upon the
performance of these conditions. If he approve himself well, (1.)
God will tranquilize his mind and pacify the present tumult of his
spirits: If thou return, I will bring thee again, will
restore thy soul, as Ps. xxiii.
3. The best and strongest saints, if at any time they
have gone aside out of the right way, and are determined to return,
need the grace of God to bring them again. (2.) God will employ him
in his service as a prophet, whose work, even in those bad times,
had comfort and honour enough in it to be its own wages: "Thou
shalt stand before me, to receive instructions from me, as a
servant from his master; and thou shalt be as my mouth to
deliver my messages to the people, as an ambassador is the mouth of
the prince that sends him." Note, Faithful ministers are God's
mouth to us; they are so to look upon themselves, and to speak
God's mind and as becomes the oracles of God; and we are so
to look upon them, and to hear God speaking to us by them. Observe,
If thou keep close to thy instructions, thou shalt be as my
mouth, not otherwise; so far, and no further, God will stand by
ministers, as they go by the written word. "Thou shalt be as my
mouth, that is, what thou sayest shall be made good, as if I
myself had said it." See Isa. xliv. 26; 1 Sam. iii. 19. (3.)
He shall have strength and courage to face the many difficulties he
meets with in his work, and his spirit shall not fail again as now
it does (v. 20):
"I will make thee unto this people as a fenced brazen wall,
which the storm batters and beats violently upon, but cannot shake.
Return not thou to them by any sinful compliances, and then
trust thy God to arm thee by his grace with holy resolutions. Be
not cowardly, and God will make thee daring." He had complained
that he was made a man of strife. "Expect to be so (says
God); they will fight against thee, they will still continue
their opposition, but they shall not prevail against thee to
drive thee off from thy work nor to cut thee off from the land of
the living." (4.) He shall have God for his protector and mighty
deliverer: I am with thee to save thee. Those that have God
with them have a Saviour with them who has wisdom and strength
enough to deal with the most formidable enemy; and those that are
with God, and faithful to him, he will deliver (v. 21) either from trouble or through
it. They may perhaps fall into the hand of the wicked, and
they may appear terrible to them, but God will rescue them out
of their hands. They shall not be able to kill them till they
have finished their testimony; they shall not prevent their
happiness. God will so deliver them as to preserve them to his
heavenly kingdom (2 Tim. iv.
18), and that is deliverance enough. There are many
things that appear very frightful that yet do not prove at all
hurtful to a good man.